Busting Out

Busting Out: I haven't gotten political with my art in a while - and while I don't want all my content to be political, 2018 is the year I finally allow myself to make it more frequently. I especially want to do more with the Liberty and Justice characters.

(Also, Jeff Koterba who makes cartoons for the newspaper here in Nebraska liked this on Instagram, and I'm still freaking out about it!)

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Sharpie Ultra Fine pen, and Pigma Micron pens from Sakura.

Chess - Bishop v Knight Test

Chess - Bishop v Knight Test: Getting the hang of Flash has been a little rocky, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of things! This was a little pencil test I did of a bishop versus a knight (definitely going to have to revisit my run cycles).

Tools: Adobe Animate (Flash).

Wildcard Wednesday #41

This week, we can expect: some caricaturized self-portraits, because double sketchbook assignments ate up my time.

Me #1: The assignment was to draw sixteen expressions on a caricature version of my face (as of now, I've got four more to go). Rather than sit in a mirror and take pictures of my faces, I went through one of my bad fan fiction videos and paused at funny expressions I made while reading it. It's been so much fun!

Me #2: Another silly face, at a moment when I was voicing a fluffy bunny of an author's character (very ill-placed, being it was a Death Note fan fiction-but then again, it wasn't really much like Death Note at all)

Me #3: This face was clearly taken at a cringe-worthy passage. When I was making myself a caricature, the features I messed around with the most were my eyes and mouth. Even though I can be very expressive, my eyes and mouth are super small, so I often look like I'm squinting at everything.

Me #4: This face was taken from a moment where the author was clearly trying to be clever about a song choice for the main character.

Me #5: So often in bad fan fiction, there are moments when you can't help but just groan in frustration at what just happened. This is one of those moments.

Me #6: A face clearly taken during a moment of interrupting commentary and correction.

Me #7: The flustered and exhausted face that screams "Let's just finish this!"

If I make anymore good caricature sketches, I'll post them next Wednesday!

Thrandegan

Thrandegan: I like to make artsy things for my sister as gifts during our birthday or Christmas. This year, I gave her what she wanted. It's embarrassing, really. Ever since last year, Pinterest keeps feeding me pictures of Thranduil despite the fact that I never have posted any Hobbit related pins (not a fan of the movies) and that I haven't posted any Lord of the Rings pins in ages. After getting more Thranduil pins shoved in my faced paired with pins about weddings, I became convinced that the Internet is trying to ship the two of us together. And my sister has gone crazy with this idea, even making videos about it and creating a ship name - Thrandegan (Thrandegan x Megan, my first name).

But despite the fact that I can't stand what fuels this piece, it is still one I'm proud of. It's my first try at Photoshop painting, and while it's not pretty in places, it's a good start.

Be prepared-this may eventually become an inside joke on the blog.

Tools: Photoshop and the heat of my own embarrassment. The things I do for my twin!

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #24

This week, we can expect a little Arlecchino with a lot of nightmares.
(I'm so sorry I forgot to post yesterday! School started back up this week, and while it's been an incredible experience, it's been so crazy on top of everything else I've got going on my plate)

Arlecchino #10: Some more body language/rough sketches, featuring Arlecchino and Columbina.

Nightmare #1: Most of you are probably familiar with Henry Fuseli's famous painting The Nightmare. If you're not, look it up-it's one of the most chilling pieces of art. It catches a woman in the heat of a nightmare, with an incubus pressing on her chest and a horse peeking through the curtains. Anyways, while I was looking at it, I was thinking about Rise of the Guardians, and I wondered, wouldn't it be cool to have Pitch Black, the King of Nightmares, in the picture? So this is one of the first practice sketches before I get the finished product up (hoping to make it in Photoshop if I can learn more about the brush and paint settings).

Nightmare #2: Another practice sketch for the Nightmare-inspired piece I have in mind. This one's just playing around with Pitch Black's positioning over the sleeping lady (since in the original, the incubus was sitting on her chest-works fine for a small demon, but not so much for Pitch).

Arlecchino Character Sheet

Arlecchino Character Sheet: This was one of my finals for Vector class - we had the option to do either an illustration or a character sheet, and because I was running short on time, I went with the character sheet. While there are a few inconsistencies here and there, it's still something I'm pretty proud of.

Tools: Adobe Illustrator.

Wildcard Wednesday #23

This week, we can expect: a whole lot of Arlecchino (with a touch of Rise of the Guardians to welcome the holidays)

Arlecchino #7: Some experimenting with body movement and positions on characters such as Arlecchino or Brighella, an inamorata, Pedrolino, and Capitano. In commedia dell'arte, there are very set movements and positions for each character. Working on that now will add character to the drawings, and later on to the animation.

Arlecchino #8: Playing around with one of the servants, Columbina. I've ultimately decided to keep her usually unmasked (since most women in commedia dell'arte didn't wear masks), but for scenarios where she disguises herself, I have created a mask that will work well with the expressions on her face.

To the right of her is Vittora. She can be either an inamorata or a servant, and in my story's case, I'm making her another servant - she's like Cosette, and I'm planning on paring her up with Pierrot later.

Arlecchino #9: More character sketches. On the left is Arlecchino with friend and fellow servant Pedrolino (still playing around with his design). On the right is Vittora and Pierrot meeting each other mid errand.

Rise of the Guardians #1: Recently introduced a friend of mine to Rise of the Guardians, which made me remember my own love for this film and everything about it. The Tooth Fairy's face is really awkward to draw, by the way!

Trump-The Buddha of Tyranny

Trump-The Buddha of Tyranny; From the day he announced his run for election, we all thought it was a joke. But it's not anymore. And now we're living in a cautionary tale that could take a bad turn for the worse if we're not wise with our vote.

Inspiration: I don't like being outwardly political about things like this election cycle. But in light of recent dirt dug up on Trump and the fact that this is the first election I can vote in, I have to speak out at least once. I have greatly disliked Trump from the beginning of the election for obvious reasons. Reasons such as his sexism, bigotry, bully attitude, and overall stupidity. But especially after hearing the 2005 off-camera boasts about trying to grope women, I am beyond raged.

So I made this. This is how I see Trump. This is how I feel about Trump. Send me flames or support, it won't change my feelings. This man won't have my vote.

Tools: Adobe Illustrator, physical sketch.

Wildcard Wednesday #15

This week, we can expect: Intense implied drama between Alice and the Hatter, while I rage over bad fan fiction. (These are all more school sketches which are going to be traced for vector homework)

Alice #2: A dramatic moment between Alice and Hatter. After doing several drawings of my designs for the Alice in Wonderland characters, I really want to come up with some sequel story of my own. But I don't want it to be like Tim Burton's version (which, while visually interesting, is very befuddled in narrative). I'll figure something out the more I explore these concepts.

Rage over Bad Fan Fiction: Me going nuts over a badly written fan fiction (with my Wheatley plushie nearby). Ever since I came across bad fan fics like Legolas by Laura or My Immortal, I keep reading/listening to bad fan fic for my own personal amusement. For me, it's a form of schadenfreude. I like seeing how people in their pursuit to express their passion about the fandoms they love inexplicably flounder along the way. Characters we love for certain traits get changed into character molds that fit all the fangirls' desires and needs. Mary Sues, Gary Stus, and damsels in distress (sometimes a hybrid of these) shove everyone else aside. English, grammar, and spelling don't always survive in the process. And sometimes (especially in the case of My Immortal), the worlds and stories we know get completely altered to make way for whatever concoctions the writer has cooked up.

Of course, I'm not saying all fan fics are like this. But all the best bad ones are.